August weddings

The highlight of my summer were my cousins' weddings of course. Imagine two brothers married within a week of each other! The top is Brad's wedding in Idaho Falls, the middle is Chris' wedding in Las Vegas and the bottom is the beautiful reception in Vegas; it's what dreams are made of!

Me and the Steenson kids

Aren't I lucky to have the cutest nieces and nephews ever? This is me with Mariah, Shawn, Joshua and Caleb.

Dyno-mite!

Did you see the movie "Napoleon Dynamite"? It was filmed on location in Preston, Idaho with all the school shots taking place at Preston High. Here are the steps where he talks to Deb, and the bike rack where he offers that kid Pedro's protection.

Temples out west

There are 122 Temples in my Church, and this summer I got to visit a bunch of them. Here are pictures of temples in St. George, Manti, Las Vegas, Provo and Bountiful (all of these are in Utah, except for Vegas).

Vegas baby!

I spent 4 days in Vegas for my cousin's wedding. Here's a pic of another cousin and I from our night at the Hard Rock where we saw Ben Folds, Ben Lee and Rufus Wainright in concert. Did I mention that Paris Hilton walked right in front of me? (sorry for the blurry photo, that's what you get for asking some young kids from Phoenix to take the pic).

Nauvoo Temple

This temple in Nauvoo, Illinois was built with considerable sacrifice in the mid 1840's, and was later burnt to the ground by the same people who led my ancestors and other Church members out of Illinois. The top two pics are originals of the Temple taken in the 1840's. The rock in the bottom picture is part of the rubble that was the original Temple and was given to me last month by the Shepherds in Idaho Falls. This gift has become a powerful symbol to me of the heritage and legacy I've inherited.

Craters of the moon

I took a trip over to the moon with my oldest nephew and oldest neice, Shawn and Mariah. Seriously, the caves and craters that the lava rock have created in the middle of Idaho are pretty incredible. Here a couple pics of climbing through the caves.

Mormon Tabernacle Choir

One Sunday morning I got to attend the weekly radio broadcast of the Mormon Tab. Choir. What was nicknamed by President Reagan (I think) as "America's Choir," has the longest continually running radio show in history, every week for 76 years. I also saw Senator Orrin Hatch in attendance.

Water Fight

I've never had a yard before, so you can imagine how much fun it was to have a water fight with my neices (how do you spell that anyway?) and nephews last week. Can you tell that I dominated?

Cedar Breaks!

Between plays I got to go hiking at Cedar Breaks National Park near Cedar City, Utah. As you can see, it was beyond beautiful. The wierdest part was standing in snow in the middle of August at 11,000 feet!

I'm all "shaked" up

Imagine 4 plays (3 of them by Shakespeare) in 4 days in beautiful theaters in Cedar City, Utah. That's the privilege I had with my dad as part of our week long trip together. We saw Romeo & Juliet, Love's Labor's Lost, Marlow's "Faustus," and my personal favorite for the week, A Midsummer's Night's Dream. This theater was made to resemble the Globe theater used in Shakespeare's time. For the record, we were posed by our directors for this photo.

Here's the exact seat I sat in for three of the shows.

Beautiful Utah

It turns out I have the cutest cousins in the world. Here are some pics from a hike we took together at our family campout.

The Wild West

No pictures this time, sorry; they'll come soon. So far I've gone camping in northern Utah, 5 days of the Utah Shakespeare Festival in Southern Utah, some time in Salt Lake City, and now a couple days in my 2nd favorite state: Idaho. I've been staying with the cutest kids in the worlds, and can't wait to upload my pictures. Just picture a water fight, beautiful scenery, adorable kids and me in hot places, and you can imagine the pics yourself.